In the Vermont Woods, a Loftier Place for Leaf-Peeping

The first cabin constructed in Kerlingarfjöll, a mountain range in central Iceland bracketed by two glaciers and threaded with geothermal steam, was completed in 1937 and gave hikers a launchpad from which to wander the otherworldly landscape. Then, in the ’60s, a summer ski school and hostel operated on its slopes. The school is long gone, but the adventuring spirit remains, and now intrepid travelers have a sophisticated new place to stay. The hospitality company Blue Lagoon Family — responsible for the first luxury hotel at Iceland’s famed Blue Lagoon — recently debuted Highland Base, a collection of accommodations that include that original cabin, seven salvaged rustic A-frames, six stand-alone lodges and a hotel with 46 rooms and two suites with their own hot tubs on private terraces. Picture windows in all of the rooms and lodges offer views of the surrounding terrain, which can be explored on foot in the summer and by snowmobile in winter. The hotel, about a three-hour drive from Reykjavík, will be open year round, though in the colder months visitors must hire a professional driver in a four-wheel-drive super jeep to reach the property, thanks to the unpaved highland roads. Once there, guests will find underground passageways connecting the hotel with the restaurant and thermal baths (scheduled to open this winter) to help them stay warm in between expeditions. Rooms from $450 a night, highlandbase.is.

Drink This

Amaro Made With Plants Foraged in New York City

For his latest act, the chef and artist Gerardo Gonzalez has steeped and brewed New York City into a digestif. At his exhibition Into an Isle, opening on Aug. 23 at the Ace Hotel New York, Gonzalez will present three batches of amaro, an Italian liqueur infused with citrus, spices and a mixture of herbs. Each of Gonzalez’s bottles is made with plants from one of three areas around the city: Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, Grand Concourse and Williamsbridge Oval park in the Bronx and a corridor of East Ninth Street in the East Village of Manhattan. Gonzalez biked over 350 miles through the city during the month of July, collecting edible material for his infusions, including arugula, mulberry leaves and wild mugwort. “The whole purpose was to synthesize a flavor based on my experience at each site,” says Gonzalez. Before his residency at the Ace, Gonzalez was the chef of El Rey and Lalito in Manhattan and, most recently, part of the culinary events team at Grand…